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Is There an Epidemic of Narcissism Today?

With a new book called The Narcissism Epidemic, the first and most obvious question is, "How do you know there's an epidemic?" The evidence comes in two forms: Changes among individuals, and changes in the culture.

Josh Foster (of the University of South Alabama) and I are releasing a study today showing that narcissistic traits are increasing even faster than we previously thought. From 2002 to 2007, college students' scores on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) rose twice as fast as we'd found in an earlier study that covered changes between 1982 and 2006. (The NPI measures narcissistic traits among the normal population, not necessarily rising to the level of a clinical diagnosis).

The increase in narcissism was stronger for women than for men in both datasets. Men are still more narcissistic than women on average, but women are catching up fast. This makes some sense, as a lot of the cultural push toward narcissism (see below) has a bigger effect on girls and women.

Then there's the shocking data recently released by researchers from the National Institutes of Health. They surveyed a nationally representative sample of 35,000 Americans about symptoms that can add up to Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), the more severe, clinical form of the trait. They asked if someone had ever experienced these symptoms in their lifetime, so you'd expect that older people would have a much higher rate than younger people since they've lived more years. However, the data go the opposite direction: Only 3% of people over 65 had ever experienced NPD, compared to nearly 10% of people in their twenties. It's possible that older people forgot some symptoms from earlier in their lives, but that would have to be a large amount of forgetting to account for this big a discrepancy. With almost 1 out of 10 people in their twenties already experiencing NPD, it's sobering to realize how high that number might go in the coming decades.

There have also been big changes in behavior - cultural changes that are often started by more narcissistic people and then draw in the less narcissistic. Plastic surgery and procedures are up by a factor of six in just ten years. Materialistic attitudes have increased, and people are more willing to go into debt to afford the best - right now. Celebrity gossip magazines are more popular while the circulation of other magazines and newspapers have plummeted. My favorite anecdotal example: It is now possible to hire fake paparazzi to follow you around when you go out at night so you can pretend you're famous. This was unheard of just five years ago. For more on what the book covers, see our book website.

So the whole society has become more narcissistic - not just the people, but our entire value system.

Tempest in a Teapot?
The primary scientific evidence for the existence of an “epidemic of narcissism” involves changes over time (1979 to 2006) in college student’s scores on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory. However, there is ongoing debate in the psychological literature concerning the merit of this evidence (for a summary, see www.balancedpsych.com).
Given this debate, what remains is loads of anecdotal evidence based on selected segments of the population. It makes for fun and interesting reading, but I’ve been teaching at the college level for 35 years, and I’m not at all convinced that there really is an epidemic of narcissism.

Actually there is plenty of evidence for an epidemic of narcissism beyond the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) over time data. So let's throw out the NPI for a moment.

The NIH study of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (a nationally representative sample of 35,000 Americans, and looked at symptoms, not the NPI) found that almost 10% of people in their 20s had already experienced NPD in their lifetime, compared to only 3% of people in their 60s. As those in their 60s have lived 40 more years on average, their number should be higher, not lower. And if 10% of people in their 20s experiencing NPD isn't an epidemic, I don't know what is. At one time, it was assumed that only 1% of the population suffered from NPD.

Then there is the related behavioral evidence. Plastic surgery is up sixfold in 10 years. The circulation of celebrity gossip magazines is way up when that of other magazines are way down. People are now much more likely to want to look younger even in their obit picture (see http://narcissismblog.com/ for a description of the study). Parents are 3 times less likely to choose a common name for their child, wanting instead a name that is unique and stands out (desires correlated with narcissism).

Now let's consider the NPI evidence. Our meta-analysis clearly finds an increase in NPI scores among college students. How about the data that "challenges" ours? It perfectly confounds campus (UC Berkeley vs. UC Davis) and year. There is no way to tell if campus or time is causing the lack of change 1982-2007 because the 1982 and 1996 samples are from Berkeley and the 2002-2007 from Davis. And when you look within campus, eliminating the confound, their data shows an increase in NPI scores at UC Davis 2002-2007 at twice the yearly rate of change that we found in our meta-analysis. (We discuss this in the book, p. 32-33; also see Twenge & Foster, 2008 December, Journal of Research in Personality). So much for a "debate" -- their data shows the same thing as ours.

I also have to address the "ecological correlation" falsehood mentioned on the website and elsewhere. The effect sizes of cross-temporal meta-analysis are calculated using the individual-level standard deviation and always have been, so they are NOT based on ecological correlations. I have stated this explicitly in print at least 4 times since 2004 and I have no idea why it keeps coming up as it is 100% false.

Could it be that students are now more assertive, and that's why NPI scores are up? Possibly. My other studies find an increase in assertiveness. But the NPI doesn't measure just assertiveness; it measures narcissism in general, and every point on the NPI means more negative behaviors on average. So unless assertive, confident leaders are also manipulative and selfish, this doesn't work.

And I won't even address the idea that we should decide if there is an epidemic of narcissism based on the observations of one faculty member.

I have to say the article, at least, allowed for the possibility of the test subjects in their 60's to have forgotten some of how/who they were in their 20's, but your answer does not mention that. In addition, college students have, for years now, been known to be in a adolescence for a much longer time than in the past. Adolescence, which includes a second coming, of sorts, of a two-year-old's narcissism. What controls did you say you used for that? Oh, that's right, you didn't. I think to be GOOD research, this should be a longitudinal study, instead of comparing completely different people, who are from very different "worlds" (i.e., today's college students vs. today's senior citizens). Maybe you should measure them every decade or so. Until then, this seems like somewhat sloppy research to me.

Oh, yeah, my original comment was why was this article listed as "Age of Entitlement" and did not say anything about Narcissism? They may be related, but are not the same.

A longitudinal study follows one cohort as they age -- so it's not relevant for finding cohort or generational change. If what you mean is a time-lag study, that compares people of the same age at different points in time, that's exactly what the NPI studies have done. They look at the scores of college students in the 1980s vs. the 1990s and 2000s (what you call "every decade or so,") and find that narcissism has gone up. The study was done over time with people of the same age, so that should fit your criteria for GOOD research.

The NIH study of NPD uses a different method, asking people about whether they have ever experienced the symptoms of NPD at any point in their lives. It is true that people in their 60s may have forgotten what they were like in their 20s. But there would have to be a tremendous amount of forgetting for the prevalence rates to be flipped from what they should be (usually lifetime prevalence studies show higher rates among older people, as they have lived more years; this one showed three times as many people in their 20s having already experienced NPD than those in their 60s). Plus people in their 60s might have more of a perspective on how selfish they were when they were younger.

The key, as with any research area, is to consider the body of evidence as a whole. When all of the studies point in the same direction, with more narcissism over the generations, that suggests that these other flaws aren't very important.

I added a few more things to my web page, some of which address your comments above, some of which are additional.

In response to your somewhat sarcastic (and cute) last comment, "one faculty member" felt that his experiences did not indicate increased narcissism among undergraduates, "one faculty member" spent a few days reviewing a LOT of related empirical evidence, and "one faculty member" still doesn't believe there is an "epidemic of narcissism"

As a lay person, who has studied narcissism for the past 10 years, I feel that I might give you a common sense view.

It is very easy to see that Americans are suffering from an epidemic of obesity. Ironically, in a class on introduction to psychiatry for the lay person, when the question was asked if anyone was overweight?everyone in the class denied it (especially the one person I considered a narcissist who was morbidly obese). Not to go into all the reasons why, suffice it to say that our society is suffering an epidemic of over eating.

I also believe our society is suffering from over narcissism - there actually might be a link that could be studied. The former you can see, the later is more subtle.

Let me elucidate what I mean. I call on my own experiences as a young boy. My mother and brother laughingly told me I was so thin that the wind would blow me away one day. Guess what, I started to eat like a pig after that scary vision, and soon had to wear 'Husky' clothes for fat kids. My arches fell and it took me years to regain a healthy weight.

Now imagine what it must be like today when every form of media is saying to kids and adults 'promote yourself because you are the most important person in the world, or you can be if you do what everyone else is doing'. Blow your ego up or else you will be blown away, ignored by everyone.

Going from a society that embraced duty, humbleness and had a self effacing work ethic we now live in a society of - for a better word - bling.

Every marketing message has a sub text saying 'be selfish - you deserve it'. Lets not forget today's parents who are raising children whose every whim must be obeyed and catered to. Our culture is saying to kids and young adults 'be a narcissist'. Some hear the siren song and obey, and a few try to be wiser and resist. But in the tide of people rushing to follow the mass media's sucking of everyone down the 'rabbit hole' or narcissism, who can resist the flood?

Dr. Flood mentioned on his web site that he sees an epidemic of voluntarism. In fact it was when I was in an emergency situation working with volunteers that I first saw and understood narcissists. Narcissists volunteer to get attention, because everyone one else is there, and the narcissists brag about it later (inflating what they did). The narcissistic volunteers run toward the cameras.

My two cents... for what they are worth. And I put in my plug for my site as well narcissism101 dot com

As a lay person, who has studied narcissism for the past 10 years, I feel that I might give you a common sense view.

It is very easy to see that Americans are suffering from an epidemic of obesity. Ironically, in a class on introduction to psychiatry for the lay person, when the question was asked if anyone was overweight?everyone in the class denied it (especially the one person I considered a narcissist who was morbidly obese). Not to go into all the reasons why, suffice it to say that our society is suffering an epidemic of over eating.

I also believe our society is suffering from over narcissism - there actually might be a link that could be studied. The former you can see, the later is more subtle.

Let me elucidate what I mean. I call on my own experiences as a young boy. My mother and brother laughingly told me I was so thin that the wind would blow me away one day. Guess what, I started to eat like a pig after that scary vision, and soon had to wear 'Husky' clothes for fat kids. My arches fell and it took me years to regain a healthy weight.

Now imagine what it must be like today when every form of media is saying to kids and adults 'promote yourself because you are the most important person in the world, or you can be if you do what everyone else is doing'. Blow your ego up or else you will be blown away, ignored by everyone.

Going from a society that embraced duty, humbleness and had a self effacing work ethic we now live in a society of - for a better word - bling.

Every marketing message has a sub text saying 'be selfish - you deserve it'. Lets not forget today's parents who are raising children whose every whim must be obeyed and catered to. Our culture is saying to kids and young adults 'be a narcissist'. Some hear the siren song and obey, and a few try to be wiser and resist. But in the tide of people rushing to follow the mass media's sucking of everyone down the 'rabbit hole' or narcissism, who can resist the flood?

Dr. Flood mentioned on his web site that he sees an epidemic of voluntarism. In fact it was when I was in an emergency situation working with volunteers that I first saw and understood narcissists. Narcissists volunteer to get attention, because everyone one else is there, and the narcissists brag about it later (inflating what they did). The narcissistic volunteers run toward the cameras.

My two cents... for what they are worth. And I put in my plug for my site as well narcissism101 dot com

All great societies and civilizations passed through a similar stage of narcissism on their way to depravity and total collapse. All our technology and wealth of wisdom won't stop us from being equally stupid. Humans are vain and can't pass a mirror without admiring themselves. Enjoy the ride---it's all downhill.

Not certain myself whether what is on the rise is an "epidemic" of incivility or narcissism, or simply an outgrowth of ignorant, boorish behavior encouraged by a shallow "culture" that sees material gain and self-aggrandizement to be the pinnacle of "the good life". Whichever it is, it is distinctly unpleasant and irritating. And academia and studies aside, it is most definitely there -- rude bahavior, gratitude seen as "hokey", a sense that others exist only for the benefit of oneself, and a tendency to treat others without dignity, consideration, or compassion.

And since narcissists will not be willing to perceive it -- since it cuts into the "good life" -- they certainly won't be willing to admit that it exists, either within or outside of academia. Several of the posts re: this article appear to bear that out with startling clarity.

Whether narcissism is on the rise in our culture is a matter for the statisticians and academics. I firmly believe that our social consciousness has changed in a way that allows narcissistic expression to flourish. Can anyone seriously argue, that we live in a society that is, on the whole, less courteous and less pleasant to live in on an interpersonal level? Cutting the other guy some slack and having some basic tolerance for your fellow man is a trait that is evaporating in American society, goodness for the sake of goodness is no longer an noble ideal--it is seen as weakness. On the other hand, our social collective seems to be almost wholly preoccupied with appearances as opposed to the way things really are. Our younger generation's formative years are spent in a world SATURATED in advertising. At every stage of the their lives, they are baited, almost minute by minute, to pursue material gain with the ultimate reward for such pursuit being that you will be seen as having a better image in society. So, from my personal observation, this increases narcissistic tendencies. I am not sure that it creates more narcissists.

Yawn... Build with facts not opinions. Your opinion only makes you foolish and dare I say... nar... It's a result of there conditions. Yes, baby boomers had things a bit easier in many ways. But todays youth are being sucked into these self grandizing and quick fix outlets. It's just stupid to blame all the problems on one generation. I am personally not a part of either generation. Rather in between but I would look at myself and other parents my age for helping with the problems of the youth. Summarize, generalize whatever. Your just putting out negative energy and remaining ignorant.

Yup, and aren't "yawning" contempt and disdain classic symptoms of Narcissistic grandiosity? As is the tendency for 'every' generation to regard itself as "special" and "entitled".
BTW, there's an interesting theory that online "trolls" such as our contemptuous friend here, are basically just NPD's, who roam around preying on the net's anonymity and lack of accountability, to obtain narcissistic "reward" (feelings of control, omnipotence, grandiosity, specialness, etc.).

People in their 20s and 30s were born after Roe v. Wade; they were wanted babies. Although this is usually a good thing, disturbed parents have unhealthy involvements in their wanted babies. I've been seeing less neglect and less severe abuse in my younger patients than in the older ones, but I am also definitely seeing an increase in some of the more obvious narcissitic traits such as obsession with appearance and self-involvement. The pre-Roe v.Wade patients may have had more trauma, but they also seem to have more resilience and independence. Sometimes, being loved by someone who is emotionally disturbed can be worse than being ignored by someone who is emotionally disturbed.

but I deal with traumatized clients all the time. I have dedicated my professional life (Clinical Psychologist) to working with the 'under-served' and there is still a WEALTH of those being abused and neglected! I don't believe there is a difference between the pre- and post-Roe v. Wade clients. If anything, people have become more savvy about hiding the abuse and do it more covertly. I am a pre-Roe v. Wade baby & "spanking" or "whipping" was considered nearly-obligatory discipline or punishment (they rarely, if ever, distinguished between the two); now, the abusers threaten their victims in order to keep them from reporting the abuse or keep them so alienated that they don't have the opportunity. Granted, I live in one of the top five largest metropolitan areas, but I also grew up in a very small community (maybe 15,000).

Narcisscism is being given a bad name. The word narcissism refers to the self. Unfortunately the word is now pathologized. To be objective about this term you need to make a distinction between healthy narcissm and pathological narcissism. Healthy narcissism implies a realsitic sense of one's assets and limitations both from the point of view of oneself and from the view point of others.

Pathological naricissism stretches from the "balanced" self in the middle to the left and the right hand sides. On the one side is pathological narcissism that takes the form of an unwarranted overestimation of ones abilities, capacities, etc which is generally referred to as conceit.

On the other side is pathological narcissism which takes the form of an equally unwarranted underestimation of one's true self. This form of pathological narcissism is generally referred to as a person suffering from low self esteem.

Is there an epidemic of narcissism - maybe maybe not - depends on which of the three forms you have in mind.

Narcisscism is being given a bad name. The word narcissism refers to the self. Unfortunately the word is now pathologized. To be objective about this term you need to make a distinction between healthy narcissm and pathological narcissism. Healthy narcissism implies a realsitic sense of one's assets and limitations both from the point of view of oneself and from the view point of others.

Pathological naricissism stretches from the "balanced" self in the middle to the left and the right hand sides. On the one side is pathological narcissism that takes the form of an unwarranted overestimation of ones abilities, capacities, etc which is generally referred to as conceit.

On the other side is pathological narcissism which takes the form of an equally unwarranted underestimation of one's true self. This form of pathological narcissism is generally referred to as a person suffering from low self esteem.

Is there an epidemic of narcissism - maybe maybe not - depends on which of the three forms you have in mind.

Very interesting research. I look forward to reading your book. I'm including a link to a blog I wrote on the Dr. Oz website where I discuss the origins of the term Narcissism. I hope you find it interesting and useful as well

Narcissistic Personality Disorder is an extremely stigmatizing diagnosis. Sometimes labeled people are also called psychopaths.

In a newspaper I read an article written by a man who lost his wife, and a little later his only child, due to suicide. He had a so hard time that he felt he needed professional help. The first professional "help" he received, was a Narcissistic Personality Disorder diagnosis.

You professionals should be ashamed of yourselves when stigmatizing and traumatizing unhappy people with terrible labels.

The more colloquial aphorism along these lines goes something like "to the person holding a hammer everything looks like a nail."

I don't believe the "results" because they don't pass the simple smell test, especially the part about "men are still more narcissistic than women on average". Didn't the pioneering researcher on female psychology, Helene Deutsch, conclude "masochism, narcissism, and passivity are the three key characteristics of the female personality"? As our society becomes increasingly feminized, female dominated, and feminacentric, women should be extending an already sizable lead in narcissism. IOW, whatever measure are being used are clearly flawed.

A bit vast to call it stigma labeling. Narcissism is something everyone experiences. But it's certainly has a strong relation to ignorance. Too much is probably just as consequential to those around the overtly narcissistic individual. They can suffer as well!

As a young adult, I believe that harmful narcissism is much more prevalent now than it was when I was a teenager. I'm speaking for myself as well - I have an unhealthy obsession with my appearance and I've noticed that I spend more time than I should thinking only of myself. I didn't have these tendencies this strong as a teenager.

I think it does have to do with the 'now or never', 'we only live once', 'You're a special, unique little sunflower' ideologies fed to us by marketing and advertising in wealthy consumer societies to get us to hate ourselves, hate others for having what we don't have and loving ourselves only when we do have the best of every material, superficial thing.

... if you want to see clinical Narcissism (and BPD) as a culture and a way of life. It also probably explains why the state budget has become such an infamously unmanageable mess... from taxpayers to the politicians, we all feel "entitled" (among other things)!

I feel like a little worm in a big mud-pie, given all the intellectuals (Ph.Ds) posting on this forum, so I will comment from what I have seen with my own eyes.
My background.. college athlete, graduate degree, musician and composer. I state the athletic and musician part because those are two areas where you can not 'pretend' to be good.. either you can dribble a basketball or play a guitar or piano, or you can not.
What I have witnessed with my eyes, is a surge in the number of what I term 'pretenders'. These are people who would rather 'pretend' to be something, for the sake of attention, as opposed to actually working to be that something.
the dictionary defines narcissism as 'obsession with one self', vanity. i have seen a tremendous increase in people who are obsessed with themselves. you see them walk down the street, admiring their reflection in every tinted glass window they can find. they talk 'greatly' of themselves, even when in reality, they are really quite inadequate. once upon a time, women were concerned with looking pretty and sexy; now i see many, many men who are obsessed with their looks. it is truly an epidemic.
the down side is for someone who genuinely wants to better themselves (be it at sports, music, intellectualism, or any other endeavor). these narcisist seem to bubble over with insecurity, and are obsessed with comparing themselves to others. they also tend to abide by the 'sheep mentality', seeking absolute conformance and acceptance. hence when they see an individual who is not obsessed with societal dictates, but would rather develop their attributes, the narcisists will do all they can to disrupt the progress of said individual.
my solution is to simply avoid them; even though i find that when you try to avoid them, they swarm you. it is a truly disturbing trend.

In chapter 14-ish you talk of love and self love. I read that you beleive that it is not necessary to love oneself in order to love somebody else.
While it is true that, if you don't love yourself it is very likely that you do not suffer from narcissism, but in my own experience you kind of end up in the other end of the spectrum. The dreaded borderline. Wherevr there is a narcissist, you can bet that there is a borderline backing that person up. There is at least someone with a severe co-dependence issue.
I'd say that a healthy love of the self, a true love of you own humanity is crucial for loving another human being.
I'm thinking of love as defined by Scott Peck.

What is your comment on this? Is Joan Lachkar correct when she pair a NPD with a BPD?
What is your thinking on co-dependence and narcissism?